EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Tom Cruise gamely tried to deliver a speech at the World Cup about how soccer was some sort of global unifier and great players had crossed oceans and borders, and, well, what was the rest?
It was about mission impossible to hear the actor over the cacophony of bells and whistles and drums that served as the house band for all the joyous singing and clapping among the Argentine and Spanish fans who travelled thousands of miles — and spent thousands and thousands more in tickets, beers and, yes, wigs — to watch the World Cup final.
No exorbitant ticket price was too high to possibly say goodbye to Lionel Messi, playing in likely his last World Cup game.
“Money comes back,” Argentina fan Manuel Lopez Maccotta said. “This is once in a lifetime. You’re seeing the best player in the world in his last World Cup. Money is worthless compared to this.”
Maccotta and one of his friends traveled from Buenos Aires to New Jersey to watch the final.
The ticket price?
“Almost 10K in American money,” Maccotta said.
The $18 beer he was in line to buy suddenly seemed like chump change compared to the ticket price.
His friend Santiago Burcaco got off easy at $5,000 for his ticket.
“I bought the ticket before the World Cup final,” he said.
World Cup fans were given a “Join The Celebration” sign that encouraged fans on how to best participate in the game.
“When the music kicks in, clap along using your clapper!”
It was about as useful as signing up Messi for soccer instructions
Just as they have throughout the tournament, fans from both countries were jacked up from the moment they navigated long times to enter the stadium and sang and chanted in their native languages; certainly giving halftime performers such as Madonna and Shakira a lofty bar to reach. There was no indication security lines for fans were slowed by President Donald Trump’s presence.
Spain fans dotted rows in their vibrant red-and-yellow afro wigs that featured their nation’s flag. They removed them only to dump water on their heads and down their necks, trying to keep cool on a sunny day.
Ticket prices for the final soared like a Messi free kick before finally come down just a smidge — by well-heeled fans standards. “Modern Family” actress Sofía Vergara stopped traffic in one concourse about 45 minutes before kickoff.
Tickets to the World Cup final, which were selling for tens of thousands of dollars, dropped to as low as $2,334.50 in the hours before the game on FIFA’s resale site. FIFA still had list price tickets on sale the morning of the game for $10,990.
Yes, perhaps, some fans scrimped and saved to buy tickets.
The ones found inside MetLife mostly had saved and had the means to make the trip.
The 28-year-old Maccotta runs a software company, and his friend Burcaco works in real estate.
Maccotta figured he spent around $35,000 total to follow Argentina around for the World Cup. The highlight before Sunday, a win against England. He landed in New York at 4:50 AM on Sunday after a nearly 14-hour delay out of Miami because of thunderstorms.
“It’s the last Messi World Cup,’ he said. “My country. Hopefully we go back-to-back. We have to share the feeling. It’s once in a lifetime.”
For Argentina, it’s a chance to become the first back-to-back men’s World Cup champion since Pele and Brazil did it in 1958 and 1962. And for Messi, it’s a chance to write the perfect ending to what he has indicated will be his final run with his national team. His No. 10 jersey was everywhere.
Thousands of Argentinian and Spain fan flooded Times Square over the weekend and bust into song and chants and the kind of revelry that has been a festive staple in World Cup host cities throughout North America.
Messi helped instill the passion, obsession and intensely loyal Argentina fan base.
Spain was ready to call the fandom a draw.
Curro Sanchez, from Madrid, spent $8,000 on a ticket. He landed a day earlier and is staying in Manhattan through Thursday.
“Had a big, big, big fight with my wife,” Sanchez said. “At the end of the day, she understood.”
For Spain, it’s a chance at a second World Cup title to go along with the one from 2010 and to cement itself as the unquestioned dominant force in the game right now.
The 42-year-old Sanchez had just one friend tag along after a pitch for others fell short.
“We tried to convince 10 friends and relatives, everyone said, no, no way,” he said. “I already booked my holidays. It’s too much money.”
